Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. --- Mark Twain

Monday, January 17, 2011

Turkey - Ankara

Day 12

17-01-2011 Evening
Turkey, Ankara
Total 3606 km

Yestarday was spent in Istanbul. The town was called Constantinopol until 1930. I was very eager to see Sultan Ahmet Mosque or Blue Mosque.; one of the most prominent buildings in the islam world. And of course I was very much interested in the Old Town too. Still a very historical place.

But the traffic in istanbul is really cool. Very cool. The town is big and driving about is guite stressful.

There is no cell phone talking or burgers eating here!

Showing the you way while turning is not much used. and surprisingly the alarm is also not much used. You will just go where you would like to go and someone is supposed to give you way. But having a close look at the sides of the cars - it probably is not always so!

The Bosphorus bridge between Europe and Asia is to be paid. And some of the other major roads as well. And here you cannot pay cash.

You have to buy either a separate card - KGS card (which you can download with cash ) or electronic registration (OGS=Otomatic Gecis Sisterni "Automatic Passage System"). They are issued by banks and with this kind of electronic registration you can just drive through the gates with usual speed..

Actually smaller roads are even nicer - more local life is met there.

The prices are in Turkish lira. Devided by two we get the price in euros.The cheapset diesel is 25 EEK per litre.It is good that the tanks were filled in Bulgaria. One cannot last long with this kind of prices..

Fortunately the roads are excellent. This kind of tape goes through the mountains towards Ankara.. And of course the weather is still grey.

In Ankara some streets are really steep. I wonder how the asphalt covering was made?

This is made in the suburbs. In the centre the traffic was really hectic. And I am not so good a man as to use one hand for driving and the other for film-making . But the traffic is really so cool and I am going to invent something in order to share this view .